Neurodegenerative diseases are becoming more prevalent with the aging population. The most common neurodegenerative disorders include stroke and head trauma, and chronic disorders such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease. Various causes have been postulated for many of these disorders, but no direct cause of neurodegeneration per se has been identified. For example, Alzheimer's disease, a condition afflicting millions of individuals, and becoming more common with the aging population, is a heterogeneous disease, clinically, genetically, pathologically, and biochemically. Diagnosis is based on the exclusion of other possible causes of dementia, and is more difficult in the early stages of the disease. Patients with Alzheimer's disease show a progressive loss of cognitive function beginning with seemingly benign memory lapses and culminating in severe dementia involving all domains of cognitive function. To date, only one therapeutic approach has been approved for the clinical treatment for Alzheimer's disease, that being acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. However, their clinical effectiveness is somewhat limited.
We have now discovered that neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, head trauma, and multiple sclerosis can be treated with a thiazolidinone, specifically a compound known as 5-3,5-bis-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-hydroxyphenyl!methylene!-2-imino-4-thiaz olidinone, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. The compound is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,928. It inhibits the activities of both cyclooxygenase and 5-lipoxygenase, and is useful as an anti-inflammatory agent. An object of this invention is to provide a method for treating and preventing neurodegenerative disorders utilizing the compound.